A Reason to Come Back
by camihere
Summary: "You came back to a place where people were dying when you had the opportunity to start a new life with your entire family. In a place where nothing could go wrong and you would finally be able to stop worrying. A place where you could just be. And you came back. Why?"


"You were very brave tonight, Harry."

Hermione Granger's voice cut the loud silence that filled the familiar smelling common room of Gryffindor. Several sleeping bodies were scattered around the room, deep in slumber after the exhausting overnight battle that had just taken place outside and somewhat inside Hogwarts castle. Dreamless sleep potions were handed out to those who needed it, Madam Pomfrey having brewed it with Professor Slughorn shortly after the end of the battle. Those who wished to stay were welcomed to in different common rooms. There were no distinction between houses or gender or age like it was when they were in school—just friends sleeping near friends, family with family and an occasional consoling stranger near a mourning stranger. The Weasleys never stayed, though, and Harry and Hermione accepted their staying near Fred's dead body with respect—instead choosing to simply hold hands and curl up together on an empty red couch.

The fire crackled behind them. Hermione snuggled further into Harry's embrace, her nose touching his chest with the lightest of touches.

"We all were," Harry replied. He wore clean borrowed pajamas and his hair was still a little moist from the shower.

_You've been so brave._

His mother's voice echoed in his ears.

"But you were more," Hermione pushed further. She felt Harry's body tense under her and stayed in silence until he relaxed again. "You know, our world is a mess," she tested, waiting to see if Harry reacted again. He didn't. "Everything's so messed up. I wouldn't know how to start fixing it." She removed her head from his chest to look up at his face, but his eyes were closed.

"You came back, Harry."

_Until the very end._

His father.

His body was so relaxed , his expression so neutral and his reaction so inexistent that Hermione begun to worry he might have fallen asleep. She kept talking anyway. "You came back to a place where people were dying when you had the opportunity to start a new life with your entire family. In a place where nothing could go wrong and you would finally be able to stop worrying. A place where you could just be. And you came back. Why?"

Her eyes were moist and her heart swelled with sadness. Not for the world, with its uncertain future, nor the dead, with their inexistent future. Her heart pounded for Harry Potter. Just knowing what he had gone through in his short existence made her want to hold him and take him some place where he would be protected forever from all the bad things. That feeling mixed with the burst of adoration that warmed her heart made her trail his more preeminent than ever lightening-shaped scar with her finger, still bruised from scratching surfaces to save her life or someone else's more than once. Her fingers were harsh, but his scar was softer than ever—less pink, like it was glad it wasn't infected with the demon trapped inside it anymore.

Just then did Harry open his eyes, but he never moved or flinched away from the intimate touch. He shed his own tear from the weight of the earnest moment, hitherto unreal to him.

_So the boy… the boy must die?_

"You were very brave tonight, Harry," she repeated, only this time she whispered lower than before—like it was the deepest secret in her heart, that she solemnly told her best friend trusting his heart to keep the secret as well as she had so far. "You came back to this horrible place when you could've…" she trailed off. "…You came back."

_Does it hurt?_

She removed her hand from his face, her fingers now burying themselves deep within the fabric of his shirt, holding it like if she let go something horrible would happen.

"Maybe," he started, his voice scratchy and rough from all the yelling and dryness. "Maybe there's another reason why I came back."

_Me! Books! And cleverness!_

Hermione looked up again, her tears now subsiding, but her face still wet. Harry's eyes met hers.

"To destroy the snake?"

_There are more important things…_

"There are more important things."

_Friendship and bravery and—oh Harry!—be careful!_

"Friendship and bravery and…" Harry trailed off, and he did something he had never done before, and he kissed her lips with his own.


End file.
